Pagan
5-24-02, 12:42 PM
Right before rejoining his mates in Iron Maiden, legendary "air raid siren" Bruce Dickinson unleashed this gem of a CD upon the unwashed masses.
During his time as a solo performer, with the exception of the awesome "Accident of Birth" and "Chemical Wedding" Bruce's albums were very hit and miss. There would be incredible songs mixed in with ones I couldn't even stand to listen to.
"Best Of..." solves this problem, taking the good cuts from his earlier works without having to deal with the filler, and adding two new songs that promise more greatness from Bruce in the future.
The CD starts off with "Broken", one of the new tunes and one of the few times Bruce sings about a relationship. The song is raw and heavy as hell, with a killer main riff. Bruce's lyrics are good, though not his best. The music, however, makes up for it.
Next up is "Tattooed Millionaire" of the CD of the same name. This is Bruce's ode to all the hairband clones that started popping up. This is the weakest song of the collection. Not his best work, but still a good song nonetheless.
"Laughing In The Hiding Bush" is up next. Originally released on "Balls To Picasso" but represented here from "Scream For Me Brazil", his awesome live release. Pure genius.
"Tears of the Dragon", also from "Balls..." is a mellower tune, with some of Bruce's best lyrics.
From "Tattooed Millionaire" comes "Born in '58", a song about his younger days. More poppy than the rest, it still is a very well written and catchy song.
The title track from "Accident of Birth" is one of Bruce's best. His backing band on both "Accident" and "Chemical Wedding" was his best. Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, guitarist Roy Z, bassist Eddie Casillas and drummer David Ingraham were an amazingly tight outfit, and are set to record more solo stuff with Bruce even though he's back with Maiden. Thankfully, Bruce hasn't decided to not release any more solo material. Now we can enjoy two great bands with his vocals!
"Silver Wings" is the other new song, and is more Maidenish than any of the other tunes. I could see Steve Harris belting the bass out on this song in my mind. Too bad they don't perform it live with Maiden. Very fast, very uptempo, and with killer lyrics. Some pretty wild drums in the intro.
"Darkside of Aquarius", again of "Accident" is one of Bruce's best lyrical efforts. He takes a turn towards the mystical here, a trend that would continue into the "Chemical Wedding" album. Great bass break in here...simple, but powerful.
"Back From The Edge" comes off "Skunkworks", one album by Bruce that I didn't care much for. This is the best song off the CD though, packing the punch that would later show up on "Accident" and "Chemical".
Bruce goes back to "Accident" for "The Road To Hell", one of my favorite tunes and lyrics from him. Also very Maiden like in style, it sets you up for my favorite all time Bruce song....
"The Book Of Thel", from "Chemical Wedding" finds Bruce really delving in to the mystical, with probably the heaviest song he's ever written behind the lyrics. This is Bruce's masterpiece, and a fitting way to end disc one of the 2 disc set.
Disc 2 is a "collection from the vaults". Various songs that haven't been released before, and in my opinion, should stay that way! I've always said that unreleased songs were unreleased for a reason! The track listing is:
1. Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter (original soundtrack version)
2. Darkness Be My Friend
3. The Wicker Man (not the Maiden tune, but a song Bruce wrote in 1997 that gave Steve Harris the idea)
4. Real World
5. Acoustic Song
6. No Way Out...Continued
7. Midnight Jam
8. Man OF Sorrows
9. Ballad of Mutt
10. Re-Entry
11. I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer (!!!!???)
12. Jerusalem
13. Dracula
The set is worth picking up for disc one alone, and there are some moments on disc two, so I would highly recommend it. I give the set a 9, which would have been a 10 had it just been disc one. Go pick it up if you're a fan of Bruce or Maiden...
During his time as a solo performer, with the exception of the awesome "Accident of Birth" and "Chemical Wedding" Bruce's albums were very hit and miss. There would be incredible songs mixed in with ones I couldn't even stand to listen to.
"Best Of..." solves this problem, taking the good cuts from his earlier works without having to deal with the filler, and adding two new songs that promise more greatness from Bruce in the future.
The CD starts off with "Broken", one of the new tunes and one of the few times Bruce sings about a relationship. The song is raw and heavy as hell, with a killer main riff. Bruce's lyrics are good, though not his best. The music, however, makes up for it.
Next up is "Tattooed Millionaire" of the CD of the same name. This is Bruce's ode to all the hairband clones that started popping up. This is the weakest song of the collection. Not his best work, but still a good song nonetheless.
"Laughing In The Hiding Bush" is up next. Originally released on "Balls To Picasso" but represented here from "Scream For Me Brazil", his awesome live release. Pure genius.
"Tears of the Dragon", also from "Balls..." is a mellower tune, with some of Bruce's best lyrics.
From "Tattooed Millionaire" comes "Born in '58", a song about his younger days. More poppy than the rest, it still is a very well written and catchy song.
The title track from "Accident of Birth" is one of Bruce's best. His backing band on both "Accident" and "Chemical Wedding" was his best. Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, guitarist Roy Z, bassist Eddie Casillas and drummer David Ingraham were an amazingly tight outfit, and are set to record more solo stuff with Bruce even though he's back with Maiden. Thankfully, Bruce hasn't decided to not release any more solo material. Now we can enjoy two great bands with his vocals!
"Silver Wings" is the other new song, and is more Maidenish than any of the other tunes. I could see Steve Harris belting the bass out on this song in my mind. Too bad they don't perform it live with Maiden. Very fast, very uptempo, and with killer lyrics. Some pretty wild drums in the intro.
"Darkside of Aquarius", again of "Accident" is one of Bruce's best lyrical efforts. He takes a turn towards the mystical here, a trend that would continue into the "Chemical Wedding" album. Great bass break in here...simple, but powerful.
"Back From The Edge" comes off "Skunkworks", one album by Bruce that I didn't care much for. This is the best song off the CD though, packing the punch that would later show up on "Accident" and "Chemical".
Bruce goes back to "Accident" for "The Road To Hell", one of my favorite tunes and lyrics from him. Also very Maiden like in style, it sets you up for my favorite all time Bruce song....
"The Book Of Thel", from "Chemical Wedding" finds Bruce really delving in to the mystical, with probably the heaviest song he's ever written behind the lyrics. This is Bruce's masterpiece, and a fitting way to end disc one of the 2 disc set.
Disc 2 is a "collection from the vaults". Various songs that haven't been released before, and in my opinion, should stay that way! I've always said that unreleased songs were unreleased for a reason! The track listing is:
1. Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter (original soundtrack version)
2. Darkness Be My Friend
3. The Wicker Man (not the Maiden tune, but a song Bruce wrote in 1997 that gave Steve Harris the idea)
4. Real World
5. Acoustic Song
6. No Way Out...Continued
7. Midnight Jam
8. Man OF Sorrows
9. Ballad of Mutt
10. Re-Entry
11. I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer (!!!!???)
12. Jerusalem
13. Dracula
The set is worth picking up for disc one alone, and there are some moments on disc two, so I would highly recommend it. I give the set a 9, which would have been a 10 had it just been disc one. Go pick it up if you're a fan of Bruce or Maiden...